I took an amazing girls trip with three of my very best friends here in Korea, Heather DeWitt, Holly Rust, and Corianne Schwartz. Since Heather, Holly and I were due to move in a few months, we wanted one last trip together. All of us decided that it didn’t really matter where, we just wanted a time away to relax together. We talked about Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, and Vietnam. In the end Vietnam was closer and cheaper and none of us had been to Hoi An.
We made our way to Vietnam and checked into our Villa. We stayed at the Van Lan Riviera Villas. We each had our own private villa. At once the staff looked rather annoyed at us getting our own rooms. Each room had a queen bed, so they seemed taken back that we just wouldn’t share, but we paid for four villas, so that is what we got. The Villas property was beautiful and surrounded by such beautiful nature. We walked into the villa under an archway that had deep red lanterns. This was our first exposure to the magnificent lanterns of Hoi An.
Our villas were located towards the front of the property with three on the left and one on the right with a pool in the middle. There were bushes and trees in front of all the villas with a cute stone walkways. The property had bikes to use for free and cute tables right by the riverside where we ate breakfast each morning. Breakfast was always so peaceful. We sat by the shade of the trees surrounded by lush greenery listening to the flow of the river.
The property also has a basket boat that they said we could use and take out for a spin. On our last day, we took advantage of the offer and Holly, Corianne and I went out on the basket boat. When you went to the river or the ocean there were basket boats everywhere trying to get tourist to pay for a short ride. It usually cost about 200 Dong for one ride per person, which is about $8.50, but since we had a river and could take our basket boat out for free and not have a million other people on the river with us, we opted to go ourselves in the peace-fullness of our own private river section.
The villa staff let us use their own private Vietnamese hats as we went out on the boat. Originally Cori wasn’t going to come, but in the end Holly and I convinced her to come out.
We paddled upstream for a while and just loved the entire atmosphere. There wasn’t anyone in site, and we could see cute boats docked along the banks and so many green trees. There were coconut trees growing right out of the water flanked by taller trees and so much grass. The water was clear and everything was so green.
We went downstream and enjoyed just letting the current take up. We kept going until we noticed a crazy fast rushing river where our slow and peaceful side met up with the roar and rapids of a much larger and dangerous river. We quickly and frantically paddled back towards the villa and away, laughing as we went.
The property had a beautiful pool, and you better believe we took advantage of that pool. We went out a few times and just relaxed and chatted in the pool. It was so hot and humid that a dip in the pool always felt so nice.
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